New Delhi: Communications Minister A Raja today said he might meet individual telecom operators to resolve the imbroglio over new norms for spectrum allocation, after a round of collective discussion with most operators failed yesterday.

Prior to that, he would hold a meeting with Department of Telecom (DoT) officials in a day or two on apportioning spectrum, which the Telecom Engineering Centre recommended should be linked to a higher subscriber base.

"The interaction is going on and after the meeting is done with the Secretary (and other officials) we will meet the operators if necessary," Raja said on the sidelines of the Executive Council Meeting of Asian Pacific Postal Union here.

Raja refused to be drawn into the merits of a letter that Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani wrote to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention in the telecom tangle, saying he was accountable to the Prime Minister and Parliament.

Anil Ambani had cautioned the government not to succumb to pressure tactics of GSM service providers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone and sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention for tightening norms for spectrum allocation.

On the issue of number portability which would allow users to change their service provider while keeping their existing mobile numbers, Raja said, "The modalities are being worked out" and that it is expected to be introduced in four metro cities by the end of this year.
Besides spectrum allocation, GSM and CDMA operators are at loggerheads over a move to allow use of dual technology by a single operator. PTI VJR KM 11271320 DEL NNNN

Source : PTI